High speed boat paddles



Dec. 18, 1962 J. K. SMITH 3,068,498

HIGH SPEED BOAT PADDLES Filed Feb. 12, 1960 (R) w (m (L) )4 SIDE smeSIDE SIDE f PIG.2. F164.

INVENTOR JOHN K. SMITH 3,963,493 HIGH SPEED BGAT FADDLES John K. Smith,2210 Marion St, Columbia 2, S.C. Filed Feb. 12, 1969, Ser. No. 8,263 9Claims. (Q31. 9Z4) This invention relates to single bladed paddles forboats, canoes and the like and is one of the class of inventionsdisclosed in my applications Serial No. 695,601, filed Nov. 12, 1957,now Patent No. 2,913,727 and application Serial No. 843,260, filed Sept.29, 1959. More particularly, this invention relates to high speed singlebladed boat paddles. It is the primary object of this invention toprovide a variety of paddles so appointed and so constructed that theoperator thereof can paddle on each side of the boat, in turn, withoutremoving his hands from the paddle in order to reposition them. By usingmy invention the operator will have at all times, each hand properlyplaced, thereby eliminating all the lost motion heretofore experiencedand thereby attain maximum efficiency.

This and other advantages of the invention will become apparent from thefollowing description in which:

FIGURE 1 discloses the conventional single bladed paddle having a bladeand stem with my device attached to the stern.

FIGURE 2 discloses a top view of the combination in FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 3 discloses a second modification showing a new type high speedpaddle incorporating the teaching of FIGURE 1 showing the position ofthe grips which facilitates a right hand paddling stroke.

FIGURE 4 is a top view of the paddle of FIGURE 3.

FIGURE 5 discloses a third modification of the device disclosed inFIGURE 1.

FIGURE 6 discloses an enlarged and expanded sectional view of the stemand slidable grips disclosed in FIGURE 5.

FIGURE 7 discloses a fourth modification of the high speed attachingmeans.

FIGURE 8 discloses alternative mounting structure.

, FIGURE 9 discloses structure for the stop or positioning means for thehand grip with respect to the stem.

A more appreciable understanding of my invention will emanate herefromprovided the following necessary procedure is understood with respect topaddles as they are now known. When operating a paddle, each hand mustbe removed from the paddle, turned over, and then placed in the positionpreviously occupied by the other hand in order to complete the stroke.For illustration, when the paddling stroke has been made on the rightside of the boat and the operator desires to stroke on the left side,his left hand must be (1) removed from the upper end of the paddle, (2)turned over, and (3) placed in a position on the lower end of thepaddle. At about this same interval and before completing the left-sidestroke, the right hand must be (1) removed from the lower end of thepaddle, (2) turned over, and (3) placed in a position at the upper endof the paddle previously occupied by the left hand. This awkwardgymnastic procedure must be followed at each and every stroke whenpaddling a boat or canoe.

With my invention, an operator can grip the paddle at the beginning ofthe stroke and paddle continuously without ever removing his hands fromthe paddle, or without altering his grip and thereby always have hishands properly placed. This, it will readily be seen, will provide forfaster stroking, more regularly timed stroking, and the elimination ofthe lost motion prevalent in all other single bladed paddles.

Referring to the drawings, wherein like reference nu- 3,858,498 PatentedDec. 18, 1962 merals refer to like and corresponding parts throughoutthe several views, the overall illustrative embodiment of the inventionshown in FIGURE 1 comprises a' Well known type of wood or metal singlebladed boat paddle 1 having blade 2 and the usual connecting stem 3 withmy invention indicated generally at 4 attached thereto. The embodimentof my invention shown in FIGURE 1 comprises a pair of suitable bars 5extending generally, but not necessarily, along the longitudinal axis ofstem 3 which bars 5 are preferably of square or rectangularcross-section. Holes 6 are provided for receiving a screw or bolt 8 forattaching my invention 4 to the stem 3 through connection 5A (see FIGURE2). Contained on each of the bars 5 is a hand grip means 7 which isslidable along the longitudinal axis of bar 5. When operating a paddlewith my device attached, the position of hand grip means 7 as shown inFIGURE 1 will facilitate paddling on the right hand side of the boat.

When it is next desired to paddle on the left hand side of the boat, itis not necessary to remove the hands from the paddle as is required bypresent day paddles as all that is necessary with my invention is toslide the grips, with sort of a scissors motion, to the positionindicated by the dotted grips at 7A whereupon the left hand sidepaddling stroke can be made. In order to insure that the hands and armsgrip the paddle at the proper angle, bars 5 are permanently twisted insuch a way as to cause the grips in right hand side stroking position 7to be rotated by the respective upward and downward motion, to theposition shown by the arrows at grip position 7, and when the grips areslid to theposition shown at 7A for left hand side paddling they willfollow the permanent torsional trace of bars 5 as shown by the arrows ongrips 7A. Thus, the torsion effect places the paddle blade at the properangle in the water with respect to the boat. This is further illustratedin FIGURE 2 which is a downward view from the top of the paddle inFIGURE 1. It can clearly be seen how the hands should, and will, bepositioned for the respective side stroking. In FIGURE 2, when paddlingon the right side the hands will take the position designated by the Rarrows so that the left hand will grip at left R and the right hand willgrip the right hand R. The left hand R grip will be at the top of bar 5and the right hand R will be at the bottom of bar 5. Conversely, whenpaddling on the left hand side of the boat the hands will be traversedby the scissors and torsional motion to take the position of the Larrows but the left hand L will then be at the bottom of bar 5 and theright hand L will be at the top of its corresponding bar 5.

It will be noted that the force of the paddling stroke will befacilitated by the grips at the bottom end of the bar 5 bearing againstcross member 5A when a particular hand is in that bottom position.However, on every stroke, one of the hands is always at the top positionof bar 5 and in order to understand the means for holding the grip atthe top of bar 5, reference is now made to FIGURE 9. At the top of bar 5I provide a recess 9 which will receive a plunger ltl which plunger ismounted on a leaf spring 11 which spring normally holds plunger 10 outof contact with recess 9. Spring 11 is form fitting and is a part of thegrip 7. It can be seen then, that when paddling, the operator squeezesthe particular hand that is at the top of the bar 5 and forces theplunger 10 into the respective recess 9 thereby causing grip 7 to remainat the top of bar 5 as the downward force is applied to grip 7 to makethe stroke. sequentially, all that is necessary for moving the grip 7into position at the lower end of bar 5 (for paddling on the oppositeside of the boat) is for the operator to slightly relax his firm gripbut retaining a lighter grasp of grip 7 and thereupon sliding the gripinto the proper lower position and at the same time sliding the formerlower grip to the top of: its corresponding bar 5, squeezing the grip 7and forcing plunger into its proper recess 9 so as to retain itwhereupon the stroke can be made. For comfort to the operator all ofthis structure may be covered with live rubber. A number of stop meansare practicable and it is believed that each is the full mechanicalequivalent of the other insofar as this invention is concerned. Thespring member 11 is shown to be form-fitting with respect to the handgrip 7. Further the spring M is shown to be bowed with respect to thelongitudinal axis of the said hand grip 7 so as to provide the effectnecessary whereby the plunger 10 in its at rest position does notprotrude into the longitudinal bore of grip 7. It can be seen that whenspring 11 is placed in engagement with grip 7 that this is a fact.Further it can be understood from the foregoing and from the nature ofthe gripspringplunger system that the firm grasp of ones hand will causethe plunger it to engage recess 9 in bar is". It is apparent, irrelevantand a matter of choice as to whether or not spring 11 is mountedexternally or internally of grip 7 or whether spring 11 is mountedcompletely within the longitudinal opening in grip 7 and retained bygrip 7. In any modification it is further necessary that the grip 7or atleast the part between the paddlers hand and spring 11be made ofresilient or elastic material.

FIGURE 3, a second species, discloses a unitary paddle which is entirelynew. The paddle is fabricated with the teaching of the device in FIGURE1 incorporated, thereby eliminating the stem 3. It can be seen that thebroad idea of FIGURE 1 is attached directly to the blade 2 and it iscontemplated that element 5A is detachable to facilitate replacing wornhand grips 7. The bars 5 are bowed outward to more readily conform tothe natural arc motion of the hands and arms but they can be reversedand be bowed inwardly if it is desired.

FIGURE 4 is a top view of the paddle of FIGURE 3.

FIGURE 5, a third embodiment of my invention discloses a singlelongitudinally extending bar 12 instead of the two bars 5 disclosed inFIGURES 1-4. The cross section of bar 12 differs from bars 5 and anenlargement thereof is shown in FIGURE 6. It can be seen in FIG- URE 6that grips 13 are slidable on bar 12 by virtue of mating parts 14 and15, parts 15 being contained by slider 16. The operation is the same asin the case of FIGURES 1-4 with the exception that the retaining plungeris a part of handle 13 and the plunger engages recess 17 on part 14. Itis to be understood that bar 12 can be prefabricated to blade 2 so as toproduce a unitary paddle as in the case of FIGURE 3. Due to the inherentnature of the members 14 and 15 with respect to their cross section slotand T type reciprocation, there is less tendency for the hand grip 13and thereby element 15 to be forced downward along stem 12 when thatparticular grip is at the uppermost position with respect to said stem12 and under force by the paddling stroke. Therefore a plunger means asabove defined With respect to FIGURE 9 is not necessary. I find itoperational to have a ball and socket system whereby a ball is inelemeat 15 and the socket or recess 17 is in the stem 12. It is apparentthat when the grip 13 is at the uppermost position with respect to thestem 12 that the recess will accept, as it were, a plunger or ball andthereby momentarily lock the grip in that position. Then, when a changein position is sought, added pressure against the grip 13 will force theplunger out of recess 17.

FIGURE 7 discloses a fourth embodiment of my invention which consists oftwo identical simplified individual parts which together go to make upthe equiva lent structure of FIGURES 1-4. Each part is attached to thepaddle stem 3 by bolts 18, but otherwise the operation and constructionis similar to that disclosed and described in the species of FIGURES1-4.

FIGURE 8 discloses a refinement for all of the previously disclosedspecies and consists of the same structure heretofore described exceptthat attaching spacers 19 are provided so as to cause the bars 5 (or 12)to be spaced further from stem 3 at the bottom than at the top, or viceversa, if desired.

It is to be understood that the device disclosed herein may be attachedto both wood and metal paddles and the paddle of FIGURE 3 may also bemade entirely of metal.

Having disclosed and described my invention, I claim:

1. A boat paddle comprising a single blade and a connecting stem, theimprovement comprising a pair of hand grip support means mounted on saidstem, an operationally positionable hand-grip mounted for longitudinalreciprocation along the axis of said stem and each of said supportmeans, said pair of hand-grips and said stem operationally eliminatingthe need for removal of either hand during continuous paddling.

2. A boat paddle comprising a single blade and a connecting stem, theimprovement comprising a pair of permanently twisted bars mounted onsaid stem and an operationally positionable hand-grip mounted forlongitudinal torsional reciprocation along each one of said bars saidpair of hand-grips and said bars operationally eliminating the need forremoval of either hand during continuous paddling. I

3. A hand grip device for mounting on the stem of a boat paddle, saiddevice comprising a pair of permanently twisted longitudinally extendingtraversing bars, each bar having a hand-grip mounted for torsionalreciprocation therealong, and means providing positioning of each ofsaid grips with respect to its respective bar.

4. In combination, a hand-grip device with a boat paddle having a bladeand a connecting stem, said device mounted on said stem and comprising apair of permanently twisted longitudinally extending traversing barseach bar having a hand-grip mounted for torsional reci procation thereonand means providing positioning of said grip with respect to said bar,said device operationally eliminating the need for removal of eitherhand during continuous paddling.

5. A boat paddle having a blade and connecting stem means, said stemmeans comprising a pair of permanently twisted longitudinally extendingbars, each of said bars having a hand-grip mounted for torsionalreciprocation thereon, means providing positioning of said hand-gripwith respect to each of said bars, said stem means and said hand-gripsoperationally eliminating the need for removal of either hand duringcontinuous paddling.

6. A paddling device for mounting on the stern of a boat paddle, saiddevice comprising a single longitudinally extending stem attachabletraversing bar, said bar having a pair of hand-grip mounted forreciprocation thereon, and means providing positioning of said gripswith respect to said bar, said device, when mounted, operationallyeliminating the need for removal of either hand during continuouspaddling.

7. In combination, a hand-grip paddling device and a boat paddle havinga blade and a connecting stem, said device mounted on said stem andcomprising a single traversing bar, a pair of hand-grips mounted forreciprocation on said bar and means providing positioning of said gripsand with respect to said bar, said device operationally eliminating theneed for removal of either hand during continuous paddling.

8. A boat paddle having a blade and a connecting stem, said stern beinga single longitudinally extending traversing bar, said bar having a pairof hand-grips mounted for reciprocation thereon, and means providingpositioning of said grips with respect to said bar, said handgrips andsaid bar operationally eliminating the need for removal of either handduring continuous paddling.

9. A device for mounting on a boat paddle having a single blade and aconnecting stem, said device comprising a longitudinally extendingpermanently twisted traversing bar, one hand-grip mounted for torsionalreciprocation on said bar, means providing positioning of said grip withrespect to said bar, stem mounting means on said bar, two of saiddevices being required for proper paddling and each being separatelymountable, said pair of devices being mountable so as to operationallyeliminate the need for removal of either hand during continuouspaddling.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTSSchaper Oct. 20, 1953 Smith Nov. 17, 1959 FOREIGN PATENTS Germany June30, 1922

